Demonstrators are concerned about the role the Albuquerque Police Department played in a recent protest against police brutality, throwing around allegations of surveillance, a violation of policies and an undercover sergeant who’s been involved in a shooting before.

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Police said five plain clothes officers from the criminal intelligence unit were at the protest this past weekend to help make sure there wasn’t any type of criminal activity or threats against officers taking place.

Protesters feel they shouldn’t have been there. They marched to APD headquarters for answers Tuesday, and wanted to know why they were.

“I can understand their concerns we were not doing surveillance in the rally or the protest. Basically, we had people there that were in plain clothes. The main reason is so there weren't any instigators coming into the crowd,” said Deputy Chief Eric Garcia.

Garcia said one of the undercover officers has been involved in a shooting.

“We can't exclude every officer that's been involved in a shooting, obviously,” said Garcia. “They are scattered throughout the department and that's just one of his duties.”

Marchers accused APD of violating its own policy, stating information will be collected when there is a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and it is relevant to criminal activity.

Garcia said everything was above board.

“There wasn't any violation of policy there because there weren't any photos or video taken if there wasn't criminal activity,” he said.

In addition to public safety, Garcia said APD was concerned about officer safety. The department said someone called 911 to threaten officers a day before the protest.

As for the officer involved in a shooting before, APD requested his name not be published for his own safety as an undercover officer. Garcia said the sergeant did take video of an unruly person who was escorted from the event. In the future, Garcia said APD will try not to have officers who have been involved in shootings at these types of protests.

Police received a second threat against officers in a 311 call this past week. That threat specifically mentioned violence against officers during Saturday’s protest.